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Becoming a full stack developer - Part 0: Decision, plan, routines

Arne on November 25, 2019

tl;dr I want to get hired at colabel as a software developer within 6 months. This series is to document my progress over time, and if y...
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Chandler Baskins • Edited

You can do it! I did it in 7 months and some odd days while working at a tire shop and supporting my wife and 2 kids. You got this! If you need inspiration or to see how I did here's a shameless plug to my article “I Got My First Job Offer” by Chandler Baskins link.medium.com/yGilgg1pX1

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Jason Long

I also took a full plunge into the journey that is becoming a full stack web dev. Lambda school was my choice and I am already loving the ride

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Arne

May I ask, did you initiate that through Lambda school?

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Jason Long

I did. I hesitated slightly because something that delivers quality with nothing up front seems too good to be true. But after a little research it seemed to be a model that made sense for me.

I’d always had an interest and near zero actual education (1 Java class nearly 10 years ago). Now I’m enjoying the rollercoaster of apprehension before starting a project, the moment when you hit a block, and the relief of overcoming it.

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Arne

Awesome! And are you already working as a dev? Or are you taking the classes right now?

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Jason Long

Currently I’m very early on in the program. We’re on holiday break at the moment but we’re in the middle of learning React.

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z2lai

Awesome post! This inspires me to start a 0 to 6 month journey because my 0 to 1 year journey clearly did not work out. I'm curious though, will you be studying full-time or studying while working full-time?

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Arne

Thanks, I really appreciate it! I am working part-time for now but I have factored in other side projects. So focus is of the essence!
If you want, we can try a mastermind tandem. Just drop me a note if you like

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Galang YP

I have so much Moody for creating some ideas but after I create my start project on the middle of the progress I feel like I'm losing my mood for the next chapter, can u told me how to avoid that thing?

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Arne

And it’s the same for me! I find it hard to keep my motivation up after the honeymoon phase is over and the stupid package still won’t install on my machine. There’s no quick fix to it but I’ll talk about how I deal with this here soon!

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Galang YP

Ill Waiting dude

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Mohammed Faragallah

That'sexactly were I'm and were i wish to go (not the exact company😅) would you be interested in starting a study group were we can share resources and progress, Good luck.

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Arne

Sure, let's give it a shot! You can either connect with me here or Twitter and we figure things out from there

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maxwell kambona

This was just the post I needed to see today,I am also self learning software engineering hopefully on.the path to becoming an Machine learning engineer.How do I reach you to get more info about the study group idea?I tried to message you on twitter but couldn't.My handle is @maxikambona

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Mohammed Faragallah

Great, this id my twitter handler @ffragalla

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SaraRF22

Well , this is the article I have been waiting for! , from last year.I started learning python., and I was aiming for back-end , then after some reading I decided to go for full stack , but know I'm studying MS and I got to know IoT in health-care field , and that's what I fell in love with , I want to go to full stack then machine learning , I hope you do well , unfortunately I have a full time job and I'm thinking of leaving because I couldn't get much time with it plus my studies . I hope you keep sharing your progress because it is inspiring. Thank you

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Steve

I'm starting on a similar journey - just completed a four week html/css/js bootcamp in my spare time, will continue to work my full time job as I learn full stack web dev starting in Jan 2020. After that...who knows what the future holds for me?

Best of luck to you, Arne!

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Arne

Same to you! Jan 2020 is still far away though, you could build a full project with what you’ve learned starting... now 😉💪🏼

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Jon Wynveen

I think you might want to set your sights on a backend developer role, as that seems to be the stack and skillset you've laid out. With that stack, I wouldn't hire you as a fullstack developer. I would expect more frontend and design ability. In reality, the fullstack moniker is almost unicorn-ish in nature. I started as a backend developer and have grown over 10 years to gain some semblance of fullstack, but that's a difficult title to live up to.

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Arne

Backend is indeed the piece that excites me the most. Design I leave up to designers

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Jakob Attkinson

Are you currently employed? How much time do you think you can dedicate to this "project" (please allow me to name it like this)? Between a job, family and other life obligations 6 months might be just a couple hundred hours in total

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Arne

If you are referring to the 10,000 hour rule, don’t let that distract you from committing to program 1.5-2.0 hours each day and — more importantly maybe — get right back on track when you got distracted. I will be far from mastery by the end of 6 months but that’s not the point. For me, I was able to reduce my hours and still get by financially. That’s a luxury but it didn’t come without any cost either. Question some fundamental assumptions, it’s your life after all!

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Austin Beaufort

Feel free to get inspired by another Austin's 0 to 6 month journey too. I we not from music teacher to full stack. Best of luck on your journey!

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Arne • Edited

That's great! Can you share how you did it? I hope the name is not the sole ingredient

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Yeppman

I'm all in with you in my lane

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EDDISON HAYDEN LEWIS • Edited

Great article on the aspect of becoming a Fullstack Developer as the role is truly demanding in this disruptive era of data proliferation but the Quantum revolution will accelerate us further.